Country diary: a young wood pigeon learns a life lesson

Sandy, Bedfordshire: The hapless bird was one step away from being as dead as a dodo. It was time to teach it to be more waryWhen the chorus stopped, one voice kept going. On and on, through the dog days of summer and into autumn, it sang with monotonous intent. It was still singing that morning. The breeding season was over, but nobody had told the wood pigeons to stop.Proof of their enduring fecundity was perched on the back of a garden chair. A messy fledgling wore its adolescence in sprigs o